Stop Being an Order Taker
Imagine that I am holding a glass of water. Here’s a question for you (you know this one)… What is the difference between a pessimist, and optimistic, an efficiency expert, and an innovator? The pessimist sees the glass half empty. The optimist sees the glass half full. The efficiency experts says, “There’s too much glass […]
Look for Purposeful Tangents
According to a recent Huffington Post/YouGov poll 28% of Americans did not read a book last year. As an author, I find this both disappointing and yet not surprising. Fortunately most people read. But is what you are reading enhancing your creativity, or just furthering your intellect? Most people who read for business purposes focus […]
Diversity Doesn't Work
Imagine two groups of problems solvers. Group #1 is homogeneous. That is, everyone has similar personalities and areas of expertise. Group #2 is diverse and comprises a blend of different styles and experiences. Which group will perform better? In times of crisis and on simpler tasks, Group #1 will always perform better. They “speak the […]
My interview on Virgin.com
I was recently interviewed by Pedro De Abreu for an article on Virgin.com. Here’s a little taste… Every web site we visit, every book we read, every conference we attend, we are admonished to innovate, to be innovative and to disrupt the market with innovation. Stephen Shapiro, author of the international best-selling business book ‘Best […]
Bring Me Better Problems
In life and in business, we are often told, “don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions.” From my perspective, this is bad advice. I want people to bring me bigger and better problems. Or, as the fortune cookie I got last night (above) implied, if you don’t focus on the right question, the answers/solutions may […]
Why Did Apple Stock Tank?
Last week Apple announced their new lineup of iPhones: the 5S and the 5C. In the subsequent days, their stock dropped like the apple that fell from a tree and hit Newton on the head. Why? Most analysts were expecting a lower priced 5C so that it could be competitive in China. At the price it […]
Innovate Where You Differentiate
In Best Practices are Stupid, I discuss the need to “innovate where you differentiate.” That is, discover what you do better than everyone else and rally all of your innovation efforts around that. In the book I discuss one company that does this well – USAA. They provide financial services to families of the military. For […]
Webinar with InnoCentive
For those of you interested in making internal collaboration a reality within your organization, I am conducting a free webinar in conjunction with InnoCentive, the premier open innovation platform. Although some of the content will be similar to what I have presented in the past, there will be some new content specific to internal cultural […]
Line Thinking at 3M
From my experience, 80% of innovations within most companies are “dot solutions.” That is, innovations are typically developed by individuals from a single domain of expertise. Deep expertise is valued. Dig deep wells. (for more on my perspectives on dot vs line thinking, please read my article from a while back – this is a […]
Do Less, Make More
In the September issue of “Speaker Magazine” (published by the National Speakers Association), I have a 3-page article. It is called: Do Less, Make More: Work Only One Hour a Day by Mastering Leverage. Here’s the beginning… I’ve been trying an experiment. For the last six months, I’ve been working, on average, only one hour each day on […]